South Sudan Turns On The Taps

12 Apr 2013 Issue: 56 / 15

South Sudan has resumed oil production and with it pipeline shipments across the border into Sudan after a near 15-month shutdown. This restart, analysts hope, could mark the start of improved relations with its former civil war foe.

Following more than one year of empty promises and false dawns, South Sudan on 6 April celebrated its return to crude oil production after agreeing early last month with its neighbor to the north, Sudan, to resume cross-border flows. This marks the end of a long-standing dispute between the two countries, which on several occasions brought the quarreling duo to the brink of war (MEES, 30 April 2012).

“The oil is now flowing,” South Sudan’s Minister of Petroleum and Mining, Stephen Dhieu Dau, said as he pushed the button to restart production at the Thar Jath field in Unity state. “This is a sign of peace. No way are these sisterly countries to live without peace; and [now] oil will play a great role to keep the peace in Sudan and South Sudan,” he told crowds that had gathered at the event. (CONTINUED - 1048 WORDS)